After phone shopping for the best price for standard routine 60,000 mile service on my 2005 Toyota Camry XLE (4 cylinder), I was quoted a price of between $225 and $250. I did not request any additional work or inspection, since I had recently had new brakes installed (9 months ago) and New tires all around (4 months ago). I was having no problems with the car. It was running fine.
I spent the afternoon with my daughter. At 4:30pm I called the dealership because I hadn't heard from them yet and I had dropped the car off before my scheduled appointment at 11:30 am. Bob, the service agent, informed me that "I called you just after 4:00pm and left you a message". He continued, 'it appears you need an alignment on your wheels and in addition there is a problem with your tie rods and we'll have to replace them.in addition, the synthetic oil you wanted won't work in your car but we have Mobil 1 can we use that?'
I knew immediately that I was being ripped off and that there was nothing I could do about it. First, they had already had the car for over 5 hours before they decided to contact me. What were they doing all that time? Second, I didn't ask them to inspect anything simply perform the routine 60,000 mile maintenance. Third, why has it taken 5 hours to call me to inform me? I already knew that my brakeman had replaced the brakes 9 months ago and there was nothing wrong with the Tie rods. I also knew that I had new tires (all around) installed 4 months ago and they balance the tires and did an alignment at that time (There was nothing wrong with the Tie rods). Now I was being told a that the car was not ready and could not be ready today, even if they simply put it back together with the old Tie rods. This meant that I would be forced to keep the rental car, which was a very nice Toyota Prius, overnight and I could pich up my car after noon the following day. I said the only thing I could say, "O.K. Put in the new Tie rods and the oil and do the alignment."
The following day at 11:45am I returned the Prius to the dealership. Bob, the service guy said "we'll bring it around for you". The bill was given to me and the cost had jumped from the quoted $225 - $250 al the way up to $563.00.
The people at Beechmont Toyota are very nice people. The problem is that they are experts at getting your bill for service as high as they can. They put me in a position where there was nothing I could do to stop them from ripping me off. And, they've done this to many other people. It is a car owner's choice to ask a repairman to do a specific job even if there is something else that could be done also. The car owner has the right to say "All I want you to do is the routine scheduled maintenance and I will do this other maintenance at another time". Beechmont Toyota does not respect this owner's RIGHT.
Finally, I asked Bob for the Tie rods they had replaced and the other parts that had been replaced including the empty Mobil 1 cans. He replied, "We didn't save anything. We didn't know you would want it". I believe that speaks worlds about what Beechmont Toyota is... A rip off artist!
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